Turing Pattern Project
A collaborative national project to engage primary school children with nature and mathematics.
We provide easy to use KS2 lesson plans covering two 50 minute lessons and optional side projects.
We use the genius of Alan Turing to combine mathematics with biology, history and art.
The project
In 2021 the great mathematician Alan Turing first appeared on the Bank of England’s £50 note. To celebrate this, the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Sheffield founded the Turing Pattern Project.
The project is a collaborative nationwide activity for upper Key Stage 2 (KS2) and lower Key Stage 3 (KS3) school students to learn about Turing and use his mathematical ideas to understand more about patterns in nature.
We provide options for teaching the project in the classroom or online. Alternatively, the project can be ran entirely by students working from home using our premade videos.
Read more
Watch our launch video
The evolving pattern
Each school is given their own grid of numbers that correspond to a point in time in the puffer fish’s pattern development. The pattern evolves as more schools take part.
Collaborators
@TuringPrimary on Twitter